


welcome wagon

by KiwisAndTea



Series: t-shirts [5]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Family Feels, Hugs, Parent Pepper Potts, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Precious Peter Parker, or a bittersweet ending, she's a total mom, we stan one (1) immeasurably patient woman
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-09
Updated: 2019-01-09
Packaged: 2019-10-07 02:45:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,848
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17357453
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KiwisAndTea/pseuds/KiwisAndTea
Summary: It's been one month, twenty-nine days, and nine hours since anyone has heard from Tony Stark.or, Peter and Pepper worry.-Part 5 of the t-shirts series, but it is not necessary to read the others first.





	welcome wagon

**Author's Note:**

> At last! THE last! Thank you all so much for sticking with this series of fics. I've gotten more support than I could have ever asked for. I'll save all my rambling for the endnotes.
> 
> Hold onto your hats, it's a bit of an angsty one. (But I can never torture these two long so obviously there's a happy ending, don't worry).

It's been two months, five days, and seventeen hours since Tony left for some Stark Industries business in Hong Kong that quickly turned into a UN sanctioned mission.

It's been one month, twenty-nine days, and nine hours since anyone has heard from him. Pepper had gotten a two-minute FaceTime in which he explained the bullshit plan Ross wanted them to follow, which was not only so highly classified Tony wasn't getting more than what he needed to know, but also called for some radio-silence. He'd had some choice words about it all, but no time to waste on them. With a joke and an assurance that he would be fine (but Ross might not be), he'd ended the call without any indication of when he might come home - or at least call again.

Peter had gotten a text at 4:12 in the morning, when he'd been out cold after a particularly rigorous night of patrol.

He has read the text fifty-nine times, every morning after he wakes up to see if there is another.

_Hey kid, you better be sleeping. Looks like I'm gonna be stuck here a bit longer. Do NOT do anything stupid while I'm gone. And keep Pepper company, will you? That place is too big for just her and she likes to redecorate when I'm not around. I expect both of you and my building in one piece when I get back. I mean it, Parker. Don't miss me too much._

It was fine, at first. It was supposed to be a two week trip, anyway. They'd cancelled their workshop days until his return, but after that date came and went without further contact, Tony's absence got exponentially harder to ignore. It hit him then, that he was on a mission, that he had no idea what was going on, that things weren't just magically going to right themselves and return him to his regularly scheduled life.

So Peter put on a brave face and called Pepper to set up some visits better suited to her busy schedule, making up any excuse he could. He needed to repair his suit was the first one, and boy was that a mistake. She set her foot down until he swore on May's life that they were small things he'd done a million times and wouldn't set the lab on fire. But it'd worked, and he fixed the couple of things that actually needed fixing and then helped her make their dinner before he went home. The second time he claimed that he left all of his extra web fluid there. The third was a desperate plea to fix a glitch in Karen's programming. The fourth, he forgot a textbook there, which wasn't technically a lie.

But it's been one month, twenty-nine days, and nine hours, and he's running out of excuses for Pepper and for himself. It's been too long. What if something happened? What if he's lost? What if someone kidnapped him again? What if he's hurt and they have no idea?

What if he never comes back?

He hasn't been out on patrol in six days, and when he asks Pepper if he can stay the weekend without any sort of explanation, she doesn't hesitate to agree. She's a lot stronger than him, but even he can tell not knowing is taking its toll on her, too. Both of them are worried and shamelessly using the other as a distraction. They bake an apple pie, play three games of Scrabble in which Pepper wipes the floor with him, watch Moana, do yoga, learn to knit, spectacularly fail to knit, play Chutes and Ladders in which Peter wipes the floor with _her,_ decide on a new paint color for the guest bathroom, and do not talk about it. They discuss some of her SI work, she helps him with an English essay, he shows her a Vine compilation, and they keep moving all day so that it doesn't feel real. So that their anxiety has no foothold.

They part for bed sometime after midnight, Sunday morning. The Compound is quiet, allowing those dark thoughts back into his mind. When Peter pulls on the MIT shirt he borrowed from Tony a few months ago after a lab mishap, it's an unconscious decision he's thankful for. He'd snuck it into the laundry a few weeks before he left for Hong Kong and stolen it back after it'd been worn. It doesn't really smell like him anymore, as he's worn it a handful of times over the past month, but it provides a blanket of comfort that allows the tension from his shoulders, but not the worries from his mind.

Peter lays in bed for hours, tossing and turning, thinking about Ben, thinking about Tony, thinking about all the ways an extended mission could go wrong.

There's a lot.

There's so many for his imagination to create in ever more detail and his chest hurts and his eyes sting and his shirt doesn't smell like him anymore. Peter throws off his blankets on impulse and marches out of his room on a mission, hesitating only once he's standing in the doorway of Tony's bedroom.

 _This is stupid_.

He's being a baby. Pepper's asleep, and he needs to work on his abandonment issues anyway. New challenges provide opportunities to grow, or whatever. And this is a challenge. He's about to turn and go back to his room when he sees the fluffy comforter shift and lift in offering.

Peter's heart betrays his body as he immediately climbs onto the empty side of the massive king bed. The sheets are cold, but they smell like him, and there's no shame here with Pepper, so he buries his face in the pillow and tries not to cry at the full-bodied relief it brings him. His mind calms and he breathes easier and that's when the exhaustion finally settles in his bones, dragging him down, making him relish the comfort Pepper's fingers in his hair bring him. When was the last time he slept well? Weeks? A month? May understands how hard it is for him to be away from Tony for long periods of time after the whole Thanos thing, and holds him close on nights that she can and he needs her, but she doesn't _understand._ She doesn't truly know _who_ he is or _what_ he means to Peter, or how the world slows and quiets and focuses when he's around, how inexplicably and unequivocally _good_ he feels whenever Tony is there because he has proven time and time again that he will chase the demons away.

He grips the pillow and takes a breath, shifting to look at Pepper in the darkness. She's a hazy silhouette, but he can see some light reflecting in her eyes. She's watching him. "What if he's hurt?" he whispers, afraid speaking it will make it true.

Her nails scratch lightly as she brushes some hair behind his ear and away from his eyes, always gentle, always soothing. "He probably is," she says and the air catches in his throat. If she believes it, then there really is no hope. "He always gets hurt on missions. But he always comes home." Pepper rests her warm palm on his cheek and then shifts into a more comfortable position. "Get some sleep, Peter. It'll be okay."

Although reluctant to believe her, he acknowledges the fact that this may be his only chance to get a decent night's sleep for who knows how long. He takes one of the large pillows beneath his head and hugs it to his chest, settling in.

A sound wakes him an indiscernible time later and he curses his sensitive hearing until he realizes what the sound is: thrusters. And the heavy _thunk_ of landing Iron Man armor. Peter sits bolt upright, heart in his throat, and reaches a clumsy hand out in Pepper's direction and manages to hit her shoulder. "He's back!" he says, but doesn't wait for a response or any sort of confirmation that she's awake before he's scrambling out of bed and into the hall.

Tony is just stepping inside from the balcony, the last of the nano-bots slipping into their housing unit, when Peter slams into him. They stumble for a moment in which his arms wrap instinctively around the boy. "Oof. Hey kid. Shouldn't you be sleeping?"

Peter just squeezes him as tight as he can. He's warm and solid and _not dead_ and _here_ and he smells like sweat and dirt and blood and yet somehow like new car, but he doesn't _care._

Pepper comes up from behind and suddenly he's squished between the two. He can hear them kiss over his head, hear the pleased rumble in Tony's chest, but he still doesn't care.

"Mm," he hums, causing Peter to smile, "A Peter sandwich. My favorite."

Okay, now he cares a little bit. "Shh. You're ruining it."

"Did you just shush me?"

He can feel Pepper laughing before she pulls away, and he steps back enough to look at the man with what is sure to be a stupid, sleepy grin. There's barely any light in the room, but Peter can see the blackeye and the split lip and the exhaustion, especially when he smiles at them. It's not pained, but genuine and ignites that ridiculous feeling in his chest that makes him feel alive.

While Tony was gone, he hadn't felt _right._ Everything was slow and unbalanced, but even his tired mind has snapped back to focus as if pulled from something as simple as a daydream. "I missed you," he says earnestly, in a way that also says " _don't leave again_."

"We both missed you."

They get a huff of reluctant laughter for their efforts. "Aw, guys, come on. I'm too tired for the emotional stuff."

"Too bad," Pepper says, returning to his side to run her fingers over his cheek. "Are you alright?"

"No more banged up than usual," he replies, but doesn't brush her concern away. Instead, he pulls her in closer and meets Peter's eye with a small smile. "Now, I fully expect to be greeted like this every time I come back from a trip. Non-negotiable." Then he looks between them and adds, "Are you _both_ wearing one of my shirts?"

Wide-eyed, (Peter didn't think Tony _hadn't_ noticed that he'd absconded with the t-shirt, but he'd kind of hoped), he glances down at his chest and then at Pepper, who is dressed in what is obviously one of his old band t-shirts, and tries not to feel embarrassed. It's just something he does. He still has one of Ned's sweaters, and a pair of fuzzy socks that he stole from May, and some sunglasses MJ lent him during a minor sensory overload, among others.

"Good thing I've got plenty. C'mere kid, it's been too long," Tony says when neither of them answer, lifting an arm for Peter to tuck himself into the man's side. He squeezes the both of them in tight. "It's good to be home."

**Author's Note:**

> That's all, folks!
> 
> If you want more from this particular series, gimme more shirts to make Peter (or Tony) suffer through wearing. I will gladly take prompts - for this series or anything else Iron Dad/Spider Son. I have a million ideas already, many of which I'm already working on, but I have no chill and like having multiple things to work on.
> 
> Come scream at me on tumblr (@kiwisandtea, don't mind the mess, I started it without a tagging system and will go down with that ship) if you like. You may also send prompts there, or tell me to get it together and post all the other stuff I'm working on, or just, ya know, scream. Spoiler alert: the quickest way to get me to write something is to make me excited about it. It honestly doesn't take much.
> 
> I'm back in school tomorrow unfortunately, which means my writing time goes way down. Can't promise I'll post anything new for a while.
> 
> Final thank you to everyone. It's been a blasty blast reading all your lovely comments.


End file.
